More time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant more hours online researching my family history. Spending more time researching produced some great results. Information I've been looking for for years surfaced online. I discovered that Granada, Nicaragua church and civil registration records were now online; something I never expected would happen. I visited Granada, Nicaragua and wasn't able to get access to the records. I've written to my family's parish church and civil registration offices requesting copies of documents but never received anything back. Seeing the records myself I understand why my family couldn't be identified, the surnames and sometimes first names were different because of illegitimacy and the use of middle names. Accessing these records was a highlight of my year. Another highlight was seeing more family photos online and some given to me by family. Newspapers added stories to go with names I've collected. Being able to search Irish Deeds online was another highlight.
My month by month progress in 2020:
January: I began the year by reviewing the past decade genealogy wise in a blog post.
February I spent time reviewing Burgenland, Austria church records. I was able to add a few names to add to my Burgenland family lines. I also watched the live streams from Rootstech.
March was spent researching record groups I learned about at Rootstech. I also took a look at the 23andMe DNA family tree I learned more about from a Rootstech presentation.
I also learned about the new photo colorization feature from a Rootstech presentation. As the lockdown began here in California photo colorizing provided me with something to do during this period in March.
With so much time at home I was able to catch up on some genealogy videos I had missed. Listening to the 2019 Rootstech London presentation "A Strategic Approach to Irish Genealogy" , by Maurice Gleason I discovered that Irish deed books were online at Familysearch. I was really excited about the ability to search these online and get copies of my family deeds.
April: I continued my Burgenland church books research. I was also able to build an expanded DNA segment map by comparing segments with a first cousin once removed. Her segments greatly expanded by DNA map for my Grandfather Rudolph Kapple's line. Below is a map of segments I received from my Paternal grandparents. I was very happy to make some progress this year filling in this map.
May: Still staying home I continued to read through the Burgenland, Austria church books:
June: I'm the administrator of the Forgey/Forgy & Forgie DNA project. One goal of this group was to confirm whether everyone carrying this uncommon name was related. In June we learned that all Forgeys are at least not closely related within the last few hundred years. A new Y tester matched another Forgy outside our most common Y DNA haplogroup. The most common haplogroup among the early testers was I-M223. A male with the surname Forgy later tested in the R-M269 haplogroup. It was impossible to say whether there was a recent break in this man's line or there was a second unrelated Forgy line? Another Forgey joined our group this year and match the man who previously tested. They appear to be distantly related confirming a different line came to this country and may have come by the surname Forgey/Forgy by a different route. It was very nice to make some progress in this group.
Another huge breakthrough in June, and for the year that matter, was discovering the Granada, Nicaragua church and civil registration records were online at FamilySearch.org. I was able to find copies of my Grandmother Graciela Del Castillo's church and civil registration records. Records for her parents, Grandparents, Great-grandparents and siblings. I also found a diary written by a friend of my Del Castillo family in Nicaragua. I compiled all of the information into a book I posted on Archive.org.
July: In July I received a copy of a Certificate File I ordered. I've ordered a couple of these files in the past 2 years. I've been ordering them for the photos on the certificate. Sometimes you can find these photos free online with naturalization documents. Unfortunately the online records for my family didn't contain a photo. Someone shared a number of unmarked photos with me and these certificate photos have helped with my photo identification. I received the file for my Great-Aunt in July and was able to compare her with unidentified photos. I was able to ID her in a couple photos using photo comparison software.
I was able to find photos of distant relatives on naturalization documents online.
I found the newspaper at the online site Newspapers.com. I hadn't searched there in a few years and didn't realize the Mattoon, Illinois newspapers were now available there. This led to many mentions of my family in the local Mattoon papers. These bits of information have provided me with stories and other information supporting the Mason/Owens lineage. I can't stress enough how enormously helpful the newspaper information was.
More information from the newspapers led to more photo finds at Ancestry.com. With time on my hands I was able to add more family photos to my own tree.
September: I ordered a copy of my Great-Great Aunt Bridget "Sister Mary Kathleen" Mullen's Alien file. I was curious whether she ever became a US citizen? She had been in the United States for decades before she registered as an alien in the 1940's. I was also wondering if she mentioned any other siblings on one of the alien forms. I knew my Great-Grandmother came to America of course. I didn't know if any other siblings did? I had noticed according to a WWI draft registration card a Thomas Mullen gave the name and address of my Great-Grandmother. I thought this might be her brother but couldn't confirm it because the card didn't state their relationship? The alien card did answer the question as to whether Sister Mary Kathleen became a citizen. She became a citizen in the 1950's. It didn't list any other relatives, however, other than her parents.
An Aunt also sent me family photos in September of my Mother Edna Forgey-Kapple's family. I loved seeing photos of my mother as a young woman and child. It's also nice to see more photos of my grandparents, and my mother's siblings. There seems to be much more photo sharing due to the lockdowns because people have time to digitize the photos and upload them.
October: I continued researching Newspapers for any family information. I found a story about a Great-Great Aunt Julia Kurta-Deutsch who was nearly murdered by her husband. That was a shocking find. I shared this information in my Halloween blog post.
November: I decided to push to confirm my Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen's brother also came to America. I knew he was living in Chicago, Illinois when he registered for the draft during WWI. I lost track of him after that. I did see someone matching his description in Arizona in US Census records. Newspapers came to the rescue again. I found an obituary for the Thomas Mullen I was interested in. It mentioned my Great-Uncle Edwin Mason who lived in El Monte at the time of his Uncle's death, and his sister Sr. Mary Kathleen Mullen. That was a great find.
December: I upgraded a paternal Aunt's DNA test to include mtDNA at Family Tree DNA. Her maternal line is Irish. I was quite surprised when her haplogroup, U5a1a2, turned out to be most common in Finland. Researching the haplogroup its origins appear to have been in the area which is now Ukraine and it spread across Europe during the bronze age. It appears that these bronze age migrants contributed substantially to the genetics of the people of the British Isles and Ireland. So surprisingly the Irish may not be substantially Celtic as once believed.
I've collected up the Y and mtDNA haplogroups for my ancestors and used DNA Painter to record them on a pedigree chart.
This year I discovered my paternal grandmother had a half-brother I never heard about. Sadly he had run-ins with the law. I discovered mug-books online at Ancestry.com and was able to get his mug-shot so now I know what this black sheep looked like.
December was also the month when MyHeritage rolled out a new DNA feature called Genetic Groups. The areas included are accurate for me, but Ireland isn't included in my groups.
As I stated before I uploaded my Del Castillo family history to Archive.org. I also made some corrections to my Owens Family history and uploaded the book again. I copied blog pages as pdfs and merged them into a single pdf and uploaded it to the same site.
My goals for 2021
- I'm carrying over a goal I've had for years now which entails finding a Browning male in my line to DNA test.
- Breaking down my Campbell brickwall is something I've been working on for years now. I'm thinking mtDNA testing may help if I can find the right person.
- I would like deed records for my Burgenland ancestors.
- I'm always looking for more photos. As you can see below there are still photos I lack.
Staying home had some positive aspects. Putting even more hours than usual into researching my family paid off. The results of my research have been rewarding. The old photos, that are new to me, and the stories I've unearthed have enriched my life.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and success in finding what you're looking for in 2021!
